As sea-levels rise, more frequent disruptions and delays from things like flooding and landslips will gradually become a part of life, making it harder to move around the harbour in the future.

Over time, we may need to learn to live with some of the impacts on our roads. Eventually, we may need to learn to live with using them less or find other ways to move around in the future that don't rely on roads.

By now, we’re used to being able to drive just about everywhere. But we haven't always been so reliant on cars, especially in Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula. In the past, boats were used to connect isolated communities and move everything from people, animals, groceries and building materials.

Across Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour and Koukourarata Port Levy we already have a lot of marine infrastructure - like jetties, wharves and boat ramps - which has been built over the past decades.

With our roads under threat, we could look to learn from the past and build up the resilience of this infrastructure, giving us another way to move around the harbour in the future.

The roading network in Whakaraupō Lyttleton Harbour and Koukourarata Port Levy is already impacted by lots of different hazards. These include landslips and road dropouts, trees falling down, and snowfall. This isn't the full story, there are other hazards like flooding that impact the roads but are not captured in the data below.

The adaptation options being considered in the map above would need significant investment from residents and ratepayers, yet may only benefit relatively small numbers of people. The Council and residents have limited resources and need to balance the considerable investments needed for climate adaptation with other investments needed across the district. It's also important to remember that any major works will take time to happen. These factors mean we'll all need to learn to live with some of the impacts of rising seas and a changing climate.